Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category

“It’s time to fly,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, for the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket program.

New Glenn’s first liftoff is now targeted for no earlier than January 10.

The booster’s inaugural mission (NG-1) will lift off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. Eastern Time, and is the vehicle’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight. 

The payload is the Blue Ring Pathfinder that will evaluate Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort. 

“Our key objective is to reach orbit safely,” Blue Origin notes in a company statement. “We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious—but we’re going for it.”

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jones. No amount of ground testing or mission simulations can replace flying this rocket, he said.

Jones added: “No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”

That U.S. Space Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-7) has silently slipped past one-year of flight time.

The craft is engaged in performing aerobrake maneuvers, a technique to alter its orbit around Earth, as well as safely dispose of its attached service module.

Lofted in December of 2023, the military spaceplane was placed in an orbit higher than any of the earlier space plane missions – into a highly elliptical high Earth orbit.

From that orbit, the United States Space Force, supported by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, conducted radiation effect experiments and tested Space Domain Awareness technologies.

X-37B/OTV-7 is also referred to as United States Space Force-52 (USSF-52). This spaceplane was lofted on December 28, 2023.

The OTV-7 flight marks the first time the U.S. Space Force and the X-37B have attempted to carry out a dynamic aerobraking maneuver.

Expending minimal fuel

In a statement released last year by Boeing, builder of the X37B “will perform ground-breaking aerobraking maneuvers to take the dynamic spaceplane from one Earth orbit to another while conserving fuel. Partnered with the United States Space Force, this novel demonstration is the first of its kind.” 

The use of the aerobraking maneuver requires the heat-tiled spacecraft to conduct a series of passes using the drag of Earth’s atmosphere. That technique enables the spacecraft to change orbits while expending minimal fuel.

There are no details as yet on whether the X-37B’s aerobrake maneuvering is complete.

If so, the uncrewed vehicle was slated to resume its test and experimentation objectives until they are accomplished.

At that point, the vehicle is to de-orbit and execute a safe return to Earth, likely at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Runway.

Flight log

Here’s a listing of previous flights of the spaceplane:

OTV-1: launched on April 22, 2010 and landed on December 3, 2010, spending over 224 days on orbit.

OTV-2: launched on March 5, 2011 and landed on June 16, 2012, spending over 468 days on orbit.

OTV-3: launched on December 11, 2012 and landed on October 17, 2014, spending over 674 days on-orbit.

OTV-4: launched on May 20, 2015 and landed on May 7, 2015, spending nearly 718 days on-orbit.

OTV-5: launched on September 7, 2017 and landed on October 27, 2019, spending nearly 780 days on-orbit.

OTV-6: launched on May 17, 2020 and landed on November 12, 2022, spending 908 days on-orbit.

OTV-7: launched on December 28, 2023 and remains in-flight.

Go to this informative video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WduDiC8VFyY

There is a possible candidate for that large metallic ring that fell from the sky on December 30 in Africa, reportedly crashing “red-hot” into Mukuku village, in Makueni county – in the country’s south.

Investigators with the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) officials in Nairobia reported that the object, which is roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter and weighing some 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms), is a piece of rocket debris. But the question remains from where?

KSA officials said the leftovers came crashing down, reportedly within the village at roughly 3 p.m. local time.

Preliminary assessment

The KSA “secured the area and retrieved the debris, which is now under the Agency’s custody for further investigation.”

“Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle (rocket),” the KSA stated in a January 1st official statement.

There is discussion regarding possible rocket launch hardware associated with the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) launch on December 30.

Polar satellite launch vehicle

The SpaDeX payload flew atop ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C60), lifting off at 10:00:15 PM local time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

The SpaDeX mission deployed two spacecraft—SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) — to carry out a series of complex maneuvers, leading to their docking in Earth orbit.

India’s mastering of autonomous docking technology, reports ISRO, is vital for future human spaceflights, lunar missions, and the construction of India’s proposed space station, Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

Report dismissed

Meanwhile, the Kenya Space Agency has dismissed a media report by Nation Africa that the country had demanded compensation for the debris dumping from India.

In a post on X on Friday, the KSA stressed that “investigations into the object’s origin are still ongoing, and no official statement has been issued linking the debris to the Indian Space Research Organization or any specific space mission.”

KSA advised the public to “await official findings.”

 

The seventh flight test of the SpaceX Starship atop its Super Heavy booster is being readied for launch.

According to SpaceX, the upcoming flight test, reportedly targeted for January 10, will launch a new generation ship “with significant upgrades.”

In addition, there will be an attempt for Starship’s first payload deployment test, fly multiple reentry experiments geared towards ship catch and reuse, and launch and return the Super Heavy booster.

Major improvements

A block of planned upgrades to the Starship upper stage will debut on this flight test, bringing major improvements to reliability and performance.

The upcoming test flight will debut:

• The vehicle’s forward flaps have been reduced in size and shifted towards the vehicle tip and away from the heat shield
• Redesigns to the propulsion system, including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume,
• The vacuum jacketing of feedlines
• A new fuel feedline system for the vehicle’s Raptor vacuum engines
• An improved propulsion avionics module controlling vehicle valves and reading sensors.

These upgrades add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer missions, explains SpaceX. Additionally, the ship’s heat shield will also use the latest generation tiles and includes a backup layer to protect from missing or damaged tiles.

Increasingly complex missions

According to the SpaceX website, the vehicle’s avionics underwent a complete redesign, adding additional capability and redundancy “for increasingly complex missions like propellant transfer and ship return to launch site.”

Those avionics upgrades include a more powerful flight computer, integrated antennas which combine Starlink, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and backup Radio Frequency communication functions into each unit.

Also, the ship is outfitted with a redesigned inertial navigation and star tracking sensors, integrated smart batteries and power units that distribute data and power across the ship to 24 high-voltage actuators.

There will be an increase to more than 30 vehicle cameras to provide engineers insight into hardware performance across the vehicle during flight.

Synchronize with Starlink

By using the SpaceX Starlink system, the vehicle is capable of streaming more than 120 megabits per second (Mbps) of real-time high-definition video and telemetry in every phase of flight. That capability yields engineering data to rapidly iterate across all systems.

While in space, Starship will deploy 10 “Starlink simulators.” These are similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites. This will be the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean.

A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.

Stress-test

Regarding return to launch site and catch, the upcoming flight test will include several experiments to further that capability.

“On Starship’s upper stage, a significant number of tiles will be removed to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry,” SpaceX reports.

“On the sides of the vehicle, non-structural versions of ship catch fittings are installed to test the fittings’ thermal performance, along with a smoothed and tapered edge of the tile line to address hot spots observed during reentry on Starship’s sixth flight test,” the company posting adds.

The ship’s reentry profile on this flight will intentionally stress the structural limits of the flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure.

Tower chopsticks

Several radar sensors will be tested on the tower chopsticks. The goal is to increase the accuracy when measuring distances between the chopsticks and a returning vehicle during catch.

The Super Heavy booster will utilize flight proven hardware for the first time, reusing a Raptor engine from the booster launched and returned on Starship’s fifth flight test.

The new SpaceX posting explains why there was no tower chopstick catch on the sixth test flight.

For this soon-to-fly test, there are protections to the sensors on the tower chopsticks “that were damaged at launch and resulted in the booster offshore divert on Starship’s previous flight test.”

Accept no compromises

“Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, requiring healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director,” SpaceX explains. “If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.”

To ensure the safety of the public and the SpaceX launch team, “we accept no compromises,” the website notes, “and the return will only take place if conditions are right.”

“This new year will be transformational for Starship,” SpaceX concludes, “with the goal of bringing reuse of the entire system online and flying increasingly ambitious missions as we iterate towards being able to send humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.”

About that possible space debris landing in Africa.

Comment from “Ed”: “Check out the Ariane 5 Space Debris (33155) that reentered around the same time. It was equatorial and more likely to be a candidate at the time of reentry.”

 

 

However, the reentry messages from space track, Ed adds, would have both the U.S. Atlas and European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane debris in completely different parts of the world.

Meanwhile, my posting on this incident via Space.com is at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/space-debris-crashes-into-kenyan-village-believed-to-be-leftover-rocket-hardware

NASA wants to bring Mars samples to Earth, but budget problems and technical woes have the mission caught between a rock and the Red Planet.

Meanwhile, there appears to be an unofficial robotic space race underway involving the Red Planet.

Both the U.S. and China are scripting a strategy for bringing back to Earth goodies from Mars via their respective Mars Sample Return (MSR) endeavors.

Real-time hand-ringing

For America, things are now happening in real-time on Mars.

The NASA Perseverance rover is busily wheeling about within the ins and outs of Jezero Crater, biting into and snatching primo chunks of Mars for eventual pick-up by a future MSR mission.

But slapped around by independent assessments, the space agency wound up hearing a cash register ka-ching sound for MSR that rang up to upwards of $11 billion.

Also, a time period of 2040 would be needed to inspect any FedEx-like delivery of select Mars dirt, rock, and atmosphere on Earth.

For details, go to my new Space.com story – “Can NASA’s troubled Mars Sample Return mission be saved?” – at:

https://www.space.com/the-universe/mars/can-nasas-troubled-mars-sample-return-mission-be-saved

Talk about ring in the New Year!

Kenya Space Agency (KSA) officials in Nairobia, Kenya, East Africa, are reporting that on December 30 a large metallic ring roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) in diameter and weighing some 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) fell from the sky, reportedly “red-hot” and crashed into Mukuku village, in Makueni county – in the country’s south.

Investigators think the object is space debris, believed to be rocket leftovers that came crashing down, reportedly within the village at roughly 3 p.m. local time.

The KSA “secured the area and retrieved the debris, which is now under the Agency’s custody for further investigation.”

 

Early assessments indicate that “the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle,” reported the KSA.

However, sky watching veteran and reentry tracker, Jonathan McDowell who works at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Inside Outer Space that there is “no obvious space candidate. I am not convinced it’s not from an airplane. Don’t see obvious evidence of reentry heating.”

On the other hand, Darren McKnight, a space debris expert at LeoLabs, points out that sometimes incoming space debris stays covered by some “sacrificial mass” that burns up and leaves the raw hardware to reenter.

So what is “the object”?

Official statement

Following the discovery of a metallic fragment of a space object in Mukuku Village, Makueni County, the Kenya Space Agency has issued the following statement, as posted on X (formerly Twitter):

 

 

The agency thanked the residents of Mukuku Village, local leadership, and media outlets for their swift actions in reporting and disseminating the incident.

 

 

 

Possible link?

An early review by Inside Outer Space of the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) Reentry Database suggested a possible link to an incoming rocket body associated with an Atlas Centaur launch back in 2004.

That rocket body leftover, tagged as object 28385, was predicted to reenter on December 30 at 21:33 UTC ± 2 hours, with a flight path taking it over Africa.

The Atlas Centaur rocketed out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on August 31, 2004 carrying a classified USA-179 satellite.

According to the NASA Space Science Data Coordination Archive, USA-179 is an American military satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), launched by an Atlas 2AS rocket from Cape Canaveral. It was the last flight of the Atlas 2 models. 

However, reentry tracker McDowell said U.S. Space Force data showed the 28385 rocket stage reentered over Lake Baikal in Russia.

So yes, further official, KSA assessment of this speculative space debris prospect is likely forthcoming.

In an independent review by Inside Outer Space to better identify the nature of the skyfall, there’s an interesting, but still speculative photo comparison – that could point to some design features of manufactured booster-related hardware and techniques used.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As example, Roscosmos enterprise images of upgraded Angara-A5M rocket hardware seem telling, perhaps, or suggest a type of fabrication process commonly used in the booster-making business by various firms.

Specialists from the Khrunichev Center manufacture parts and components for the first two Angara-A5M launch vehicles, as well as test benches for testing and fine-tuning modern rocket manufacturing technologies.

Use of new technologies in the manufacture of key structural elements with improved weight characteristics relative to the standard Angara-A5 design.

Any follow-up suggestions are welcomed.

 

 

 

 

The China Manned Space Agency on Monday released a first-ever progress report on the output from the country’s space station.

This CMSA report provides an overview of the work accomplished over the past two years.

Over those years, China carried out four crewed flights, three cargo resupply missions, and four spacecraft return missions.

Five “taikonaut” crews carried out 15 long-term stays in orbit, with 10 taikonauts performing extravehicular activities.

According to the report, multiple spacewalk maintenance missions were completed, setting a new world record for the duration of a single spacewalk.

Additionally, the selection of the fourth batch of reserve taikonauts was completed, including two payload specialists from Hong Kong and Macao, according to the report.

Samples returned

As of December 1, 2024, reports China Central Television (CCTV), a total of 181 scientific and application projects have been carried out in orbit, with nearly 2 tons of scientific materials delivered and nearly 100 types of experimental samples returned, producing over 300 terabytes of scientific data.

Spotlighted in the report are experiments in space life and human research, microgravity physical science research, and new space technology and application research.

As a national space laboratory, China’s orbital outpost is projected to conduct over a thousand research projects during its 10-15 years of operation.

Exceeding expectations

“In my judgment, the results have exceeded my expectations,” said Gu Yidong, chief expert of space science, manned space program.

“Overall, I am encouraged by the progress we’ve made,” Gu told CCTV. “Despite facing time constraints in the early stages, the progress of the first batch of scientific experiments aboard the space station shows that our scientists are capable of achieving even greater results in the future with continued, sustained effort, to truly make a special contribution of the space station application to building China’s strengths in science and technology.”

Go to these newly issued videos that detail China’s space station research activities at:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18ahhyZbDf/

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/15NowMGdvU/

It seems fair to say that this year has arguably been a page-turner in defining and refining interest in Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), an aerial off-shoot — rightly or wrongly — of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), of alien-flown flying saucers sprinting through our skies.

There have been back-to-back open Congressional hearings and several classified gatherings in hush-hush, closed-door sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) settings. “Whistleblowers” toot tales of retrieved objects and super-secret reverse engineering efforts to look under the hood of recovered vessels. Even claims of non-human “biologics” being pulled out of the wreckage of crashed craft.

So what should happen in 2025 to move the UAP/UFO story forward? Are we at a dead-end?

 

 

Conversely, is the coming year one of “full disclosure?”

 

 

 

Go to my new Space.com story – “What has to happen in 2025 to move the UAP story forward?” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/search-for-life/what-has-to-happen-in-2025-to-move-the-uap-story-forward

China has approved new lunar sample research applications from institutions, permitting them to borrow samples returned by both the country’s Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 missions.

According to China’s Xinhua news agency, a total of 8,550.4 milligrams of lunar samples will be lent to 18 researchers from 16 research institutions, such as the China University of Geosciences (Beijing), the University of Hong Kong, the Macau University of Science and Technology, Beihang University and Wuhan University – among others.

Back-to-back missions

The country’s Chang’e-5 mission in December 2020 brought to Earth about 1,731 grams of lunar samples.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission collected 1,935.3 grams of samples from the far side of the Moon, parachuting those specimens to Earth on June 25 of this year.

Research station

China is also set to construct an international lunar research station (ILRS) with a network linking the moon’s south pole, equator and far side.

 The ILRS is a scientific experimental facility, projected to be built in two phases: a basic model to be built by 2035 within the lunar south pole region, and an extended model to be built by about 2050, according to space planners.

Exhibition opens

Meanwhile, an exhibition featuring Chang’e-5 lunar samples was opened to the public today in Beijing.

In addition to 0.6 grams of lunar soil brought back by the Chang’e-5, the exhibition also showcases lunar samples collected by U.S. Apollo 17 moonwalkers and lunar meteorites from Northwest Africa, highlighting their use in appraising the Moon’s formation and evolution.

Go to this video that spotlights the Beijing lunar exhibit at:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BkT9zjuXw/